The invention relates to a webcam functions, and more particularly, to methods and systems for audio and video communication.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a personal computer 11 equipped with conventional webcam 13. The webcam 13 (also called a web camera) is an isolated video camera used to capture and transmit periodic images or continuous frames to the personal computer 11, and subsequently the personal computer 11 transmits images or frames to a remote computer for display via Internet. Webcam software resident on the personal computer 11 typically captures the images as JPEG or MPEG files and uploads them to the Web server.
Recently, there are thousands of webcams that provide views into homes and offices. As webcam capabilities have been added to instant messaging services such as Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and MSN Messenger, the live video communication over the internet, which may be one-to-one, one-to-multiple, or multiple-to-multiple live video communication, has now reached millions of mainstream PC users worldwide. WWW users, however, must purchase webcams to provide images.